Former Student reflects on past School Board Member Patience Nave

Please read this outstanding commentary by Cortney Stewart about a wonderful lady, former Citrus County School Board Member, the Honorable Patience Nave.  I had the great pleasure of having a private lunch with Ms. Nave as a young first time candidate in early 2010.  Ms. Nave was one of two former Board Members that graced me with some of their knowledge.  Ms. Nave was a great inspiration and I will never forget one of the best pieces of advice that she shared with me.  Ms. Nave said, “there will be days when you get frustrated, you will feel like some people are not listening and you will be discouraged.  That is the most important time to be with students.  Go over to any school and walk through the door and just hang out.  Being around the kids will bring everything back into prospective and give you the strength to continue.”  That very advice I have used over and over since being in office and I am indebted to Ms. Nave. God bless her family as they temporarily say goodbye.  But Ms. Nave would share with us that it is only temporary.

Excerpt from the Citrus Chronicle’s story, ‘Saying goodbye to a hero‘ by Cortney Stewart

I said goodbye to one of my heroes this week.

On Thursday, July 28, 2016, former Citrus County School Board member Patience Nave took her final breath in this world and her first in eternity. She died in Richmond, Kentucky, surrounded by her three daughters.

A saint is finally home. 

From 1996 to 2004, Patience served the students and the educators of Citrus County with fervor and passion. You could disagree with some of her politics, and many people did, but you couldn’t disagree with the intensity with which she fought for the students of our community to have the very best education that could be offered them. 

It was in that sphere that I met Patience. I was 14. She was 68. I was a freshman in high school. She was a retired educator in her second career. 

At the time I was a newbie on the staff of the Lecanto High School newspaper, trying to make my mark as a journalist. So I decided to cover the real news happening in the world and not what was considered news at the school itself — like the student outcry for more pizza options at lunch and different dress code regulations. 

Please follow this link to read the complete story: http://goo.gl/m5Fz4t

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